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UNESCO’s Recognition of a Non-Existent Palestine Was an Affront to the Body’s Own Ideals; The United States Must Continue to Withhold Funding to Any UN Body that Admits Palestine to its Membership in Accordance with U.S. Law, Says Ros-Lehtinen

Nov 8, 2013

UNESCO’s Recognition of a Non-Existent Palestine Was an Affront to the Body’s Own Ideals; The United States Must Continue to Withhold Funding to Any UN Body that Admits Palestine to its Membership in Accordance with U.S. Law, Says Ros-Lehtinen

(WASHINGTON) – U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, made the following statement on today’s announcement by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) that U.S. voting rights would be suspended for failure to pay our dues on time. In 2012, UNESCO and its Member States voted to admit the non-existent State of Palestine into its organization. U.S. law mandates the discontinuation of funding for any UN body that grants membership to Palestine. Statement by Ros-Lehtinen:

“UNESCO and its Member States understood the consequences of admitting a non-existent Palestine into the organization, yet they went ahead and did this knowing full well that the United States would withdraw our funding for the body in accordance with our laws. With UNESCO becoming better known in recent years for rewarding rogue regimes and human rights violators than for meaningfully promoting its own ideals, it comes as no surprise that it would suspend U.S. voting privileges rather than take a hard look at its own distorted agenda. UNESCO has continued to astound responsible nations with its idiotic decisions and the U.S. should have no place in an organization that makes a mockery of universal principles of freedom and human rights.

“The Administration continues to seek ways to circumvent U.S. law so it can restore funding to UNESCO and other UN bodies that seek to admit Palestine to their ranks. Congress must not grant the waiver authority the White House has asked for in the past because doing so would undermine our national security interests in the turbulent Middle East.”